‘Looks at perfectly functional Galaxy Watch 3 on my wrist’
Furtunately (at least for the users), gadgetbridge exists.
Aren’t smart watches almost universally bricked by default unless you undergo an online activation, sharing all kinds of personal information?
I’m stuck on miband 3, since it’s the last model sold unlocked.
Huawei watches support gadgetbridge and don’t have vendor pair.
Well, or mi unlock, where you need to share your e-mail and phone number. You can’t do anything about it anymore.
As far as I know, gadgetbridge does not support tizenOS smartwatches
Well, then all the users are fucked.
Perfect, now Google can kill Wear OS without fear of tizen taking it all.
Mission accomplished!
Are they going to allow me to reflash it with whatever i want tho?
haha ha haaaaa
No. Why? Because, duck you, that’s why.
Can we get Louis rossman onto it?
Looking forward to getting a Pinetime. It might not be polished, but community support never truly ends.
This is a huge problem for Samsung. This is proof they cannot maintain an OS, making them further dependent on Google. They chose a Linux compatible toolkit (EFL from Enlightenment) and tried making their own OS. It was terrible and filled with security holes.
I think they should rebase Tizen on PostMarketOS, as I don’t believe Samsung can create their own base.
I used to develop smart TV apps, and Tizen / Orsay (older SS TV OS) we an absolute nightmare to develop for. LG’s Web OS, and Android TV were so easy in comparison.
Of course they can’t. It’s gotten so bad they ship their TVs with antivirus on them. The only reason anyone uses their Android phones is they have the best hardware, most of their add-on software is just useless gimmicks people turn off. Tizen on watches was never going to work. Apple has a large enough ecosystem to attract app developers. Google has a large enough ecosystem to attract app developers. Samsung does not. Smartest thing they could do now is shut down their remaining software development. Ship the TVs with vanilla Google OS like LG, strip the bloatware off their phones, etc. They would lose face but their products would become way better.
Doesn’t LG use WebOS?
Or at least they did three years ago when I wanted to buy a TV but everything was back ordered to he’ll…
My 2 LGs do use WebOS, but I never use it. I have a raspberry pi for one, and the other one is my laptops second screen, so everything is fed from the laptop. I never see the TV’s OS
Smartest thing they could do now is shut down their remaining software development. Ship the TVs with vanilla Google OS
I think there’s a difference between smartwatches and TVs in terms of being able to monetize the operating system. On the tiny screen of a watch you can’t really put any advertisement (at least not without destroying the usability completely) and most of the things you can analyse are happening on the smartphone.
A TV on the other hand gives you a huge surface in the living room of a families home and if you have control of the OS there are plenty of ways to monetize it (and companies willing to pay for it). You can preinstall certain streaming apps (and get payed for it), promote newly released movies and give links to rent them (either your own shop or again for commission), you can collect userdata and sell that to other companies, and much more.
I think it’s telling that monetizing the operating system is the immediate place one jumps to with this, rather than earning more profit by selling more products which are better for the consumer.
Yeah, sadly from a economic perspective it is kind of obvious how a continuous source of revenue might be more appealing compared to a one time purchase. Especially with a product like TVs that usually have a pretty long lifetime before being replaced.
Although i would point out that (at least in our current society) privacy and an ad-free experience in many ways is treated as a luxury good. Persumably a TV with a better OS would be sold at a higher price, and confronted with this choice many consumers would likely choose the cheaper one.
privacy as a luxury good
Sounds like what Apple is trying to do…
Sadly wanting privacy is kind of a niche thing, not a large # of people buying iPhones to avoid surveillance. And most TV buyers DGAF… If a large # of them opted out of content recognition we’d still have dumb TVs on the market.
Unfortunately I think without some kind of regulation that makes personal info a liability / hot potato, it will still be treated as an asset to be collected:(
Sounds like what Apple is trying to do…
Yeah, although sadly Apple isn’t quite the good guy either. I feel like in a way instead of ads they use their walled garden approach to achieve a similar result.
They’ll make it really annoying or even impossible to use alternatives and mix things. This way they you are by design drawn to use their desired solutions.
Does make for a better user experience as long as you pay the price and play by their rules. And probably also better for privacy, because with the closed system approach they don’t need the data as much to target you.
But imo still problematic and Apple doesn’t want to just sell good Hardware, but also services.
Unfortunately I think without some kind of regulation that makes personal info a liability / hot potato, it will still be treated as an asset to be collected:(
Agreed, this is one of those problems where it is much easier to legislate from the top down, rather than trying to get each individual consumer to make fully conscious decisions.
why can’t someone make a nice flagship Android watch with a large rectangular screen? the apple watch ultra is so nice. i have pixel watch 2. it’s ok but it’s pretty lame.
LOL! And that is why I didn’t get one.
I’ll buy a phone and laptop, but I’m done investing in any other products that won’t guarantee a basic feature set for the life of their device.
A problem I deftly sidestepped by avoiding “smart” watches altogether.
I loved my Fossil watch. And eventually I switched over to iPhone (which was a painful transition but 95% fine now), and Apple Watch is fantastic.
I also hear the Garmin ones are really nice.
Garmin watches are semi-smart and have great sensors. My Epix 2 Sapphire runs for 11 days on a charge as well.
Tried a Pixel, returned it for refund. Don’t use iPhone or Samsung phone so their bespoke software wouldn’t work for me.
Garmin Instinct 2 Solar gives me 31 days on a full charge if it doesn’t get any sunlight. It is smart enough to vibrate me awake without waking my partner and receive notifications, no matter what Android/iOS phone I use.
What were your main gripes with the Pixel watch?
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- Can read messages. On Android can reply with canned responses set up in the Connect app
- GPS tracking during workouts without having to have phone within range, has heart rate, sleep tracking and more
- Instinct can control media (play/pause/skip) when phone is in range, though the Forerunner music can store music to play via Bluetooth headphones
- No LTE/eSIM support on any of them that I know of
- Best feature for me by far is the time is always visible and in fact is even more visible in direct sunlight
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Download songs and playlists from your Spotify, Deezer or Amazon Music accounts for phone-free listening.
So it seems it is specifically those services I found more info here
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I have mine working with Navidrone without any issues.
At the launch a lot of the features like sleep tracking were paywalled behind Fitbit, and you had to use Fitbit instead of Google Fit which I had been using.
After a week of using the Fitbit app I just found it annoying and pushed the social media aspect far too much for my liking. It felt more like a Fitbit than an Android Watch and that’s not what I was looking for.
Prior to trying the Pixel I had an LG Watch Sport that I really enjoyed.
The Garmin while it lacks the ability to do things like control smart lights or integrate heavily into phone controls like the Pixel Watch did, its battery life is amazing, the sensors are great, it gets the alerts I need from the phone, and I’ve actually become very very fond of the gimmicky flashlight that’s built in.
I can easily export health and data to CSVs, and move it if I want to.
The full offline map capabilities are also big if I go backpacking.
There is a Home Assistant app for Garmin watches that is pretty usable. The flashlight is surpassingly, hilariously, one of my favorite features though.
What phone do you use, if I may ask?
A Pixel, minor gripes with it. I’m considering a Samsung for my next one though, last non-pixel or Nexus phone I’ve used was a Samsung Note 2 over a decade ago.
Oh dang.
Another vote for Garmin, wearing a Descent mk2i as my daily and dive computer. Two weeks on a charge, all the tracking I could ask for. It’s big, but so am I so it doesn’t look ridiculous.
Withings is the limit then?
wut?
Withings is a company that makes some health related tech products, like a watch. I bought a scale from them 5 or so years ago.
My bathroom scale is mechanical.
Fascinating. Now tell us about your toothbrush.
(For those who don’t know: Withings makes an analog-looking watch with an excellent and discreet read-out on steps and sleep. I have watch-envy)
Massive congratulations
I mean LOOK at everyone in this thread. “Muh TerribleCo SlaveBuilt 4 is only a week old and they’ve stopped pushing updates and the battery doesn’t last the whole day anymore I have to charge it at lunch.”
“What’s it for?” “Text messages hit by brain 4 seconds faster.”
Pinetime
Which I imagine like everything else Pine64 does will remain permanently in a state of “industry seconds some dead pixels are to be expected this is for developers and enthusiasts only no returns or refunds.” I don’t think they have any plans to ever bring a consumer ready product to market.
I have one. No dead pixels. It doesn’t necessarily do fancy things but that’s sort of why I got it. $30 and it tells the time, shows me notifications and lasts over a week before I have to charge it. Eeeeevery now and then I’ll use it to control media or play 2048. Hey it even counts my steps!
damn I mean I agree with you I think they’re mostly dumb and haven’t recovered from my loss of pebble but what an appropriate handle
You trying to say my username checks out? Yeah.
Everyone? Well let me be a change then. I love my smart watch. It vibrating wakes me up easier than alarm. Step and sleep tracking is really useful to me. While a gimmick sure, I really enjoy being able to update and change my watch face on a whim. Even with always on display, constant heart rate tracking and step tracking, my watch easily lasts 48 hours and charges within an hour while I’m in the bathroom getting ready in the morning. I get it’s not for everyone but far cheaper than a Rolex and way more functionality.
There’s not a vendor out there I trust with an always on internet connected EKG on my wrist.
Cool, good for you.
I don’t really give a shit who knows whether my heartbeat is irregular.
Me too. I don’t see the point. My life is already full of distractions and I bet the batteries in those are hard to replace when they inevitably don’t hold charge any more.
Buy g-shock, know time. Good.
They’re useful for people with sleep issues, and people who are trying to get fit or lose weight. The sleep and fitness tracking features are great for statistic nerds like me. Or people with a heart condition who don’t want to carry a bulky ECG machine with them everywhere. But if you fall into neither of those categories, I can understand why you would say such a thing.
I don’t go anywhere without my smartwatch. Only time I take it off is to shower and charge. Owning one has improved my life for the better. For example, I found out that I have sleep apnea because of my watch. And I can track whether or not my workouts are burning muscle or fat, and adjust accordingly.
Fair enough.
Best watch I ever owned cost me $7 at Wal Mart. I don’t wear a wrist watch anymore.
I like my Bangle.js 2.
I had a Motorola one about 7 or 8 years ago. I was working at a grocery store at the time and we weren’t allowed to take our phones out on the job, so I could use it to see and reply to important texts from my parents. I also drove my parents’ car to and from that job. Their car at the time had no phone integration at all. Just a Bluetooth to 3.5mm headphone jack dongle plugged into the AUX input. So when driving that car, I used the watch as a makeshift hands-free system. Not actually hands free mind, but I could use it to skip songs and pause without taking my eyes off the road while listening to Spotify.
Casio gang report in!
Casio Is GOD TIER
Available in gold.
F91W will never not be supported
Solar charging, atomic time sync, durable. Much better than any smartwatch.
As long as I can still get notifications and see the time, I don’t think I care.
I remember Samsung trying to run a WWDC-like conference in San Francisco many years ago. They were offering free Tizen watches as enticement for developers to show up (AppleWatch devs had to buy their own). None of the professional mobile devs I knew back then said they would go.
As Microsoft found out with WindowsPhone, it’s really hard to get traction if you’re third.
Tbf that’s because Microsoft got in bed with Nokia and gave the finger to everyone else
They also didn’t treat devs very well. A lot of folks pulled their apps or let them die on the vine instead of having to majorly replatform to support the latest versions of their mobile OS.
This made their App Store go from mediocre to downright anemic.
MS died after Steve Ballmer era CMV
IMHO, he wasn’t great, but I feel like the their software has really gone downhill since he left. All they do is shuffle chairs, reorg - not ship.
That said, Ballmer didn’t do a great job with the early days of digital music and mobile. He mocked a lot of that stuff, then was forced to get into those games way too late.
He didn’t seem to get that the PC had been replaced as the major consumer form factor by Apple and Google with their mobile devices.
I assume he didn’t understand how those devices were different from like Palm, Blackberry and stuff like Tablet PC.
Nokia era Lumias were amazing phones, and I loved the OS, but a lack of apps kept it from ever being a contender. Still miss my live tiles though.
What the commenter above was referring to is special API access for Nokia and a few key third-parties that regular devs were not allowed to use.
It was a strange time for Windows phone. Agreed, such a shame, it was an interesting UX-first design for its time.
Samsung switched from Tizen to WearOS literally 4 months after I got my Galaxy watch 2. That was annoying. $200 is way too much to spend on such a short-lived product.
Similar thing happened to me. Bought a bunch of watch faces too, only to discover that none of them would transfer over when I got a new watch.
I mean, Fossil ended support for my Gen 5 a while back and… It still works. I mean, I mostly use it as an alarm and “ability to feel my phone vibrate when ringing” machine but it still operates…
Until it doesn’t, I guess. The battery life is already shit and I’m jealous of my partner’s Garmin.
Garmin is the way to go.
Their hybrid models are chefs kiss
Still fine with my Pixel Watch I got for free with my Pixel 7P.
I would have never get a smart watch though. Not my jam.Garmin did the same thing with Forerunner. They stopped software support 6 months after release of 220, and the very moment 235 was released. Their tech support’s answer to any problem was “do a factory reset”. And yet they are still considered one of the best brands for navigation and sports.
Bad headline. They’re sunsetting Tizen for watches, but not other products.
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Lame. WearOS is laggy garbage. My Watch 2 Active was way more responsive and functional than my Watch
34 Classic is. Animations stutter constantly and half the time it doesn’t even react to my touch. Bring back Tizen.
